Transition

Chapter 3 - The Horror

"You okay?" Hunter sat with Diane on a bench in the sunshine outside the HEEP offices. "That was pretty gruelling in there."

"I'm happy for the break and yes, I'm okay. I think I should be asking you that."

"Hah, my days with HEEP are over, you can bet on that."

"They just won't believe what you- we were faced with." Diane sighed then looked up quickly. "There's Mark waving to us, they're coming back in."

"Hang tough, Diane." They stood together and went back inside.

"Dr. Sommers could you continue from where we left off before the break please."

"Certainly. The following morning we headed back to the lab to work and inside we saw that the windows were covered in a black substance. The computer security was flashing red and the air was- tepid . . . I can't think of another word."

"That's fine, continue. The black substance."

"Howard immediately secured a small sample and took it to his work table."

********

Procedural protocols were ignored as terror and panic swept through the analyzing lab. Howard stood with his hands stuck to the table, screaming as his protective sleeves dissolved and a black slime oozed up his exposed arms.

Diane grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him away but the suit fell apart and the slime that was inside transferred to her gloves. She stripped them off immediately and raced to the other side of the lab, climbing into the emergency medical transfer pod and locking herself inside.

Through the portal in the pod she could see some members of the team forcing their way inside the airlock, without waiting for it to clean, leaving a few still in the lab. Someone must have turned on all the decon systems at once, blasting the occupants with massive doses of decontaminates.

Ruth rushed to the communications bench opened the radio channel, calling for help, leaving it open while she joined the few still inside at the airlock door, and panicking, opened it. Great globs of the black slime fell from the interior of the dome and the remaining team was quickly engulfed as they tried to flee.

In less than ten minutes all were dead and the facility was completely overrun with the mysterious organism.

"Are you telling us this- this substance eliminated the entire laboratory team in ten minutes!"

"I am, and Commander Hunter and Executive Officer Chesterton can verify that factual possibility. I was extremely fortunate to have been noticed and rescued."

"Gentlemen?"

Hunter stood, spoke and sat. "I already told my version and Dr. Sommers has verified it."

Chesterton supported his Commander and Dr. Sommers about the slime but stated that he opposed the steps taken with the Encounter's crew.

The board members could not agree that the steps taken during the evacuation of Galapagos were avoidable. The hearing ended with Chesterton being relieved of his rank as executive officer and Hunter being relieved of all duty, branded with the accusations of gross misconduct as the Encounter's chief officer.

Dr. Sommers was dismissed with the thanks of the board; she was to continue her studies at HEEP but restricted from any new planet searches. The public results of the hearing were posted to the archive while the opinions and strategies remained sealed in HEEP's files.

********

"That was definitely not fair." Diane sat on the foam cushion in her quarters in the HEEP science building watching Hunter toy with his drink glass.